Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs.
ARTIST: R.E.M.
RELEASE: Fables of the Reconstruction: 25th Anniversary
BACKSTORY: The college-rock legends this week reissue their third album in a 2CD edition that includes a second disc featuring demos of every track on the album, plus the B-side “Bandwagon”; “Hyena,” later recorded for Lifes Rich Pageant; and “Throw Those Trolls Away,” a song the band has never released in any form (see full tracklist here).
BUY IT: Fables of the Reconstruction via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Concrete Blonde
RELEASE: Bloodletting: 20th Anniversary Edition
BACKSTORY: Johnette Napolitano and Co. reissue their classic 1990 album in expanded form this week, filling out the 10-song disc with five bonus B-sides — including a live version of album fave “Tomorrow, Wendy” — plus the previously unreleased French version of “Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)” (see full tracklist here).
BUY IT: Bloodletting: 20th Anniversary Edition via Amazon.com
ARTIST: The Teardrop Explodes
RELEASE: Kilimanjaro: Deluxe Edition
BACKSTORY: This week’s newly expanded edition of the 1980 debut from Julian Cope and Co. restores the album’s original 11-track running order on the first disc and features a second CD with 14 contemporaneous singles and B-sides, as well as a third disc with 11 tracks recorded at the BBC in 1979 and 1980 (see full tracklist here).
BUY IT: Kilimanjaro: Deluxe Edition via Amazon.co.uk
Releases from Thrill Kill Kult, Crowded House and That Petrol Emotion after the jump…
ARTIST: My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult
RELEASE: Sinister Whisperz — Volume One: The ‘Wax Trax’ years (1987-1991)
BACKSTORY: The industrial act this week releases a new compilation featuring a dozen tracks spanning the four albums the group recorded for the Chicago-based label, plus an outtake called “Satana Rising.” The collection is available in one- or two-disc sets (see full tracklist here).
BUY IT: Sinister Whisperz via Amazon.com
ARTIST: Crowded House
RELEASE: Intriguer
BACKSTORY: The Crowdies’ second post-reunion album came out a month ago in the rest of the world, but it’s just arriving here in the U.S. this week to coincide with the band’s North American tour. The 10-track disc comes in a limited-edition set with a bonus DVD featuring most of the new album’s songs performed live.
BUY IT: Intriguer via Amazon.com
ARTIST: That Petrol Emotion
RELEASE: Babble
BACKSTORY: The second album from the Irish alt-rock act — featuring members of The Undertones — receives an expanded reissue in the U.K. this week, with the original 1987 album supplemented by six singles and B-sides, including a 7-inch edit and live version of “Swamp,” a remix of “Big Decision” and a track called “Dance Your Ass Off.”
BUY IT: Babble via Amazon.co.uk
That’s a great week of releases. Bloodletting is a great album and it’s great to see it get the “expanded” treatment. The Crowded House looks interesting… have you heard it yet?
An 80’s alternative blog and no mention of the Tommy Keene comp out today?
Had Fables already on preorder- can’t wait to hear the extra stuff. It’s still my fave REM album after all these years.
I’m definitely gonna have to throw down for the Kilimanjaro expansion as well.